State police protection could come at a cost

Saturday

For the first time, Pennsylvania legislators are pushing to have nearly all communities — no matter what the size — pay for full- and part-time state police protection.

It’s a switch from earlier proposals that exempted communities with populations fewer than 4,000 from paying for state police patrols.

For those Beaver County communities that rely on part-time state police patrols, such as Shippingport and Independence townships, they could be exempt from the fee because they provide some of their own police patrols.

But for tiny Beaver County communities, such as Hookstown, that have no police force and rely on full-time state police protection, the fee could be more than a borough could absorb and the cost would have to be passed on to taxpayers.

For Hookstown, with a population of about 150, the annual payment could be nearly $24,000, phased in over a three-year period.

“We can’t afford a police department, and we sure as heck can’t afford to pay state police,” said Hookstown Mayor Robert Deiley. “This is not just a couple of dollars. It’s a lot of money.”

He added, “We already pay state police, don’t we, in our taxes?”

In published remarks, state Rep. Mike Sturla of Lancaster County, who sponsored the legislation, said that all Pennsylvania residents pay for state police services, but only 20 percent of the population actually uses state police for full- or part-time service.

The vast majority of the population, Sturla said, pays anywhere between $100 and $400 an individual for their local police department.

Sturla expected that within three years, the state would raise $450 million a year.

Of that, $20 million would be set aside for training of state police cadets.

Of the remaining money, 90 percent would go to the motor license fund; the legislation didn’t spell out what that money would be used for.

The last 10 percent would go to the Department of Community and Economic Development for “assisting and encouraging municipalities to enter into cooperative arrangements to provide police services in two or more municipalities and by participating municipalities for grants for equipment and studies for implementing cooperative policing arrangements,” the legislation reads.

Earlier this year, Gov. Ed Rendell said he was willing to discuss the possibility of charging municipalities that rely solely on state police for police services. The 2009-10 budget doesn’t contain any money from the proposed fee.

Because state legislators are mired in a budget impasse, it’s unclear when the legislation could move forward.

Representatives from other Beaver County communities affected by the fee didn’t return messages seeking comment. State police representatives in Harrisburg also did not return a phone message.

Deiley said his borough has already started discussing the issue.

One possibility might be to contract service with a nearby police department, but Deiley said even that would be an expensive proposition.

“We don’t have enough people in our community,” Deiley said. “Many are on fixed incomes. It would be outrageous what we’d have to pay for a police department.”

THE LEGISLATION

• Municipalities who rely on state police for full-time protection would be required to phase in payments over three years. For the first year, municipalities would pay an annual fee of $52 per resident. The fee would rise to $104 the second year, and $156 the third year.

• For those municipalities that rely on part-time patrols, the annual fees would be $17 per resident, $34 and finally $52 the third year.

There are some exceptions in which communities that have part-time police departments wouldn’t have to pay for state police protection.

For example, municipalities with fewer than 1,000 residents that provide their own patrols for at least 40 hours a week won’t have to pay for state police.

• In Beaver County, the following communities rely on full-time patrols by state police: Frankfort Springs, Georgetown, Homewood, Hookstown, Glasgow and Greene and Hanover Townships.

Many of those communities that rely on part-time state police patrols have their own part-time police forces, and likely would not have to pay a fee.

• A municipality that has part-time state police patrols could also opt out of the per capita fee, instead paying each time there’s an emergency.

In that situation, state police would not patrol the community, but would respond to an incident. The community would then pay state police each time they respond; a fee wasn’t listed in the proposed legislation.

The legislation was submitted to the House Rules committee on July 2.

Source: State House Bill 1500.

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